


[Music Collage] A Pretty Bird

by DuendeVerde4



Category: Batman - All Media Types, DCU (Comics)
Genre: (kinda), (kinda?), Blood, Body Horror, Fanmix, Music Collage, Non-Consensual Body Modification, Podfic, Wingfic
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-06-14
Updated: 2020-06-14
Packaged: 2021-03-02 21:35:11
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 692
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/24213769
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DuendeVerde4/pseuds/DuendeVerde4
Summary: Dick and Jason have a run-in with a sorceress. Things take a turn for the unexpectedly horrifying.
Relationships: Dick Grayson & Jason Todd
Comments: 7
Kudos: 14
Collections: remixapod 2020





	[Music Collage] A Pretty Bird

**Author's Note:**

  * Inspired by [[Podfic] Pretty Bird](https://archiveofourown.org/works/22361002) by [frecklebombfic (frecklebomb)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/frecklebomb/pseuds/frecklebombfic). 



> The point of this is to retell the story without all the words. To translate all the words to feelings and mood and music, kinda. So I wanted to talk a little about the music choice! There are several reasons why one or another piece was chosen.
> 
> Some of the music was chosen for the mood it creates (Michael Abels - She Tried to Kill Me), some was chosen as a commentary to what is happening in the story and what is being said (Goblin - Suspiria Theme), some was to translate what a character is feeling, like on the scene where even though he doesn’t want to be there, Jason continues to help Dick. While on the podfic we follow Jason helping Dick and we can infer from freckle’s reading that he’s horrified and holding himself to be there for Dick, there’s not much analysis of what Jason is feeling . I wanted to explore that, get inside Jason's mind, and I thought "The Quality of Mercy” had the sadness, resignation and love that mirrors doing something terrible that hurts someone you love just to help them.
> 
> As the podfic followed Jason, so did I, and so did the music. And while I tried, when i could, to explore some of Dick’s feelings too, Jason’s feelings were always present. For example on "Scrooge's Window" there is the relief of Dick and the tenseness of Jason, or on “Arrival of the Birds”, there is the awe of Jason and Dick's freedom from the pain. This also shows their connection, as I believe Jason would be relieved when seeing that what he is doing is in fact helping dick and free after having done it and not having to watch Dick in pain anymore. Dick's relief is Jason's, and so is his freedom.
> 
> So yeah, most of the music is not working just one way or another, but several ways at the same time. Inspired by the original piece frecklebomb choose, they’re all original scores from either movies or tv shows. I also used two pieces from the movie score they pulled their song from, as an homage to the original work. The track list has all the songs i’ve used, but as this is a collage, many of them don’t appear in their original form here.
> 
> This was such a fun challenge! I had never made a music collage. Or thought about making a music collage. Or heard many music collages before, really, just one. But I don’t know, I listened to the podfic, the inspiration struck and I just started playing with it! There’s not one thing that inspired me, it’s just all of it. Frecklebomb’s voice (I LOVE the way they say “pretty bird”), their performance, the music, the atmosphere...  
> To underline how much this music collage wouldn’t exist without the podfic, I’ll say how when I was making the “script” for it, to choose the music and figure out what I wanted to say with this work, I re-read the story and extracted some parts I thought resonated. Then I re-listened to the podfic, ignored most of those parts and just followed frecklebomb’s voice, adding my twist in the end.

[Stream or Download it here](https://drive.google.com/file/d/11zY24rk9hzOG0EIVOCIIAPqd7PsdWV-j/view?usp=sharing)

**Track List:**

[Goblin - Suspiria Theme](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pins1y0XAa0)

  
\- Summary: Dick and Jason have a run-in with a sorceress. Things take a turn for the unexpectedly horrifying.”  
\- “They call you Nightwing, do they not? the sorceress continued, floating in mid-air without a care in the world”  
\- “The longer this fight continued, the surer Jason felt that she wasn’t just a human who’d been dipped into the mystic arts a bit too long, but had never been human to begin with. She didn’t talk like a fae, and was too playful for a demon, but it wasn’t like there weren’t plenty of other evil magical pests out there.”  


  
\- “You are Nightwing, said, more definite this time. A Kryptonian name. Yet you are not Kryptonian. Simply a regular, boring human.”  
\- “Still, you are rather pretty, she mused, and Jason’s fingers tightened around his guns involuntarily. A pretty bird, yes, that seems fitting.”  


[ Clint Mansell - Lux Aeterna](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bbS-Zhz31CA)

[ Max Richter - The Onrush of Events](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7K67er7Gbn8)

  
\- “A scream” “N! Nightwing, what’s wrong? What’s— Where does it hurt? Tell me what I can do,” “Something underneath Dick’s suit moved.”  


[ Fernando Velázquez - We Stay Together](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=twB0wYGpIR8)

\- “Suit, Dick gasped out. Off. Get it off. Jason complied without question. Even with how much Dick was thrashing around. Even with how much his own fingers were shaking.”  
\- “He didn’t get the zipper down more than a few inches before he had to pause.”  


[ Hidden Citizens - Moonlight Sonata](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IaGsdnKORcA)

[ Max Richter - She Won't Answer](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q1QvVLwELfo)

[ Michael Abels - She Tried to Kill Me](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HOAC2SDVgbA)

\- “There was so much blood, spilling over Jason’s fingers, staining everything a wet, horrifying red.”  
\- “He couldn’t even see Dick’s skin underneath.”  
\- “He spotted a fleck of blue among the vivid red of the blood.”  


[ Mica Levi - Lipstick to Void](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bTHDD1Xe-iE)

\- “More, Dick gasped out. It’s still— He peeled the stiff fabric down further, until Dick’s entire back was bare. Then all he could do was stare.”  


[ Jason Hill - Beyond The principle of Pleasure](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=koOmxBKyVdE)

\- “I— It’s in your back. Attached”  


[ Fernando Velázquez - Ghost I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SptVWasGGIA)

\- “There were two ugly, jagged cuts along the curve of Dick’s shoulder blades, the torn skin looking like it had been ripped apart rather than cut. Even worse, he could see something inside the wound, something sharp and awkward-looking that was trying to push free, but was caught against the edges of torn flesh.There were spiky protrusions underneath the skin, bulging out of Dick’s back grotesquely, like something was trying to press through from the inside. It must be causing Dick excruciating pain.”  


[ Colin Stetson - Party, Crash](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=3Ik02TJZuVY)

\- Man Yelling  
\- “Dick gasped, and to Jason’s horror he tried to reach back and get his own hands on the wounds. His fingers were slick with blood within seconds as he tried to find something to grab onto, something he could rip out to get the pain to stop, but his back was too slippery to get a hold on anything.”  
\- Bird Sounds  
\- “Stop, I’ll do it, Jason said”  
\- “Before the doubts could start to creep in again, he braced himself against the hard concrete”  
\- “and pulled”  


[ Marco Beltrami - It Hears You](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RfI6F55eKI)

  
\- “A feather came free, with a wet squelching sound, and Jason froze.”  
\- “A pretty bird”  
\- Bird Sounds  
\- "He looked back down at Dick’s upper back and to his horror the protrusions were still there, and there were other spots of blue shining through the blood. He wanted to turn away and retch, but he still had a job to do.”  


[ Max Richter - The Quality of Mercy](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8RfI6F55eKI)

[ Mica Levi - Love](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Z_Cc20I-maM)

[ Dustin O'Halloran · Volker Bertelmann - Scrooge's Window](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BQvX8-1RE5E)

\- “Dick let out a sob that sounded like relief when the whole structure was finally free, and Jason hurried to give the tear in his other shoulder the same treatment”  


[ Fernando Velázquez - Return to Your Ghost](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AxPA2AHSes8)

\- “The freed wing twitched. It was a frayed, scraggly thing, with feathers hanging at odd angles on a framework of bone that reminded Jason of large, skeletal fingers. Some feathers were broken and bent, but the blue was vibrant”  


[ The Cinematic Orchestra - Arrival of the Birds](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H9gFLkNdHvA)

\- “Jason closed his eyes. He should say something, but the words wouldn’t come.  
\- “Yeah, he said, Dickiebird, you have wings.”  


[ Colin Stetson - Reborn](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MVnSFj6XQZY)


End file.
